IS
RUSSIA DONE? "Internal contradictions in Russia's
thousand-year history have destined it to shrink demographically,
weaken economically, and, possibly, disintegrate territorially.
The drama is coming to a close, and within a few decades Russia
will concern the rest of the world no more than any Third World
country with abundant resources, an impoverished people, and a
corrupt government. In short, as a Great Power, Russia is
finished."The Atlantic 05/01

THE
NEW CAPITALISM:
"With Russia’s government strapped for cash, the
country’s sprawling network of great arts institutions is being
forced into the unfamiliar world of commerce. The Russia
Museum is one of the winners, organising an
ever-expanding network of souvenir shops, a web site, and this
year a record 15 foreign exhibitions. None of this has come easy
to Russia’s museums and theatres. For 70 years the former
Communist regime paid their entire budget, and also taught that
private enterprise was a sin."The
Scotsman 11/27/00

GETTING
PERMISSION: A new Russian
initiative aims to educate Russian artists about intellectual
property and copyright. "Even though
Russia signed
up to the international Bern Convention on copyright in 1994, it
is taking time for the copyright mentality to take root. This has
led to confusing and often farcical situations, such as Russian
theater companies being forced to cancel tours abroad because they
never bothered to get permission to stage the foreign play they
intended to bring."St.
Petersburg Times (Russia) 11/28/00

BETTER
THAN THE BOLSHOI? Amid the turmoil of Russia re-inventing
itself, and the bitter cold of St. Petersburg, ballet is thriving.
"The Kirov (known in Russia now as the Mariinsky) is now
widely recognized as Russia's best ballet company, surpassing the
more famous Bolshoi Ballet of Moscow. Its foreign tours have been
commercial and critical triumphs. Its performances have dazzled
the demanding audiences of London and New York."The
Globe and Mail (Toronto) 02/21/01

SO
WHAT'S IN A NAME? The famed Imperial Ballet ofRussia finally
made its North American debut this week in Toronto. Or did it?
Well, something called the Imperial ballet showed up, but in name
only. Like many Russian performing arts companies these days, the
Imperial is little more than one of those Russian pick-up troupes
of freelance dancers that spends most of its time touring the
world and trading off the dwindling mystique of an appropriated
name. National
Post 03/10/00

SAVING
CLASSICAL BALLET: A fan, dismayed by the ballet he was seeing
in Russia, decided to start his own company in 1994. This week the
St. Petersburg Ballet Theatre comes to America. Washington
Post 10/20/99

WILL
PLAY FOR FOOD: The National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia's
tour of the UK wasn't going well and the budget was busted.
Musicians quarreled with the conductor, then took matters into
their own hands - they hit the street to play for money.
Compassionate Swansea shoppers helped save them.
BBC 11/28/99

POST-SOVIET
CULTURE: As the Soviet Union's much-vaunted culture machine
began to break down after the country's breakup, many Soviet
artists fled to the West. Vladimir Spivakov, one of Russia's top
violinists and conductors and founder of the Moscow Virtuosi,
chose to continue working in his homeland. Now he may take on the
ambitious new Moscow Cultural Center. London
Telegraph 02/09/00

THE
BOLSHOI'S HARD TIMES: Its theatre is crumbling, its artistic
reputation has been battered, and its subsidies from the Russian
government have fallen off. It's probably not much of a surprise
that the Bolshoi's regime was sacked this week. The
Times (London) 09/01/00

THE
BOLSHOI BALLET IS BACK in New York after a 10-year absence.
“By any cultural standard the return is a major event. The
engagement is sold out: the company's mystique remains intact. It
is no secret, however, that the Bolshoi has had its ups and downs.
Not only do aesthetics change, but reality intrudes as well. More
than 20 years of turmoil within the company, a turnover in
directors and an adjustment to a society itself in turmoil will
take its toll.New
York Times 07/20/00(one-time
registration required for entry)

THE
STATE OF A LEGEND: The Bolshoi Ballet has been selling out and
winning raves on its current tour, reinforcing its stories place
in the ballet world. "Every large performing arts center in
the nation will no doubt shortly be calling Moscow to ask about
2002, and there's plenty of new repertory to choose from. However,
the six Pavilion performances raised major questions about the
current artistic level of the Bolshoi and, in particular, the
quality of its coaching."
Los Angeles Times 06/27/00

NOTHING
A SOLD-OUT TOUR WON'T HELP:
The Bolshoi Ballet started their first U.S. tour since the
collapse of the Soviet Union with a three-hour “Romeo and
Juliet” at Washington’s Kennedy Center. The 224-year-old
Bolshoi has recently been recovering from an ousted artistic
director and serious financial woes - that a sell-out U.S. tour
should help ease. CNN
05/31/00

FIRST
NIGHT: Lavish sets and costumes are a hallmark of the
historic Moscow-based company; more surprising was the clean
luster of the dancing. Leading a thoroughly excellent cast,
the Bolshoi's prima ballerina, Nina Ananiashvili, used her
dagger-sharp technique to emphasize the headlong passions that
drive this story of unstoppable love. Washington
Post 06/01/00

BALLET
THAT'S BIG: The Bolshoi takes America by storm. But this is a
different Bolshoi than the one we've seen before. "It is a
different company now. Each time chooses its own dancers."New York
Times 07/16/00 (one-time
registration required for entry)

DANCING
ON EMPTY: The Bolshoi Ballet is in London and the news isn't
good. People are staying away in droves - only 30 percent of the
house has been full. This despite popular classic pieces on the
program. What gives?The Telegraph
(UK) 05/15/01

WHY
BOLSHOI LEADER HAD TO GO: While some were surprised by Russian
president Vladimir Putin's dismissal of Bolshoi director Vladimir
Vasilyev this week, others were not. "While critics could
forgive Mr. Vasilyev his shortcomings as an administrator, they
were angry about his failure to revive the Bolshoi artistically.
His staging of 'Swan Lake' was deemed a flop, but what critics
found even more dismaying was his inability to introduce the new
ideas he had promised when appointed."
New York Times 08/31/00

Bolshoi
SHAKEUP: Fed up with perceived mismanagement and stalled
rebuilding plans for the critically dilapidated theater, Russian
president Vladimir Putin on Monday summarily fired the Bolshoi
Ballet’s top management staff, including its controversial
general director Vladimir Vasilyev. The
Guardian (London) 08/29/00

UNESCO
TO THE RESCUE: UNESCO, the UN’s
cultural and educational agency, is coordinating a $250 million
international effort to rebuild Moscow’s
19th-centuryBolshoi Theatre, which is crumbling and close to
collapse due to years of neglect. Theatres from around the world
have already rallied around the cause by sending in contributions
equal to one night’s earnings. NPR
07/31/00 [Real Audio
file]

BETTER
THAN THE BOLSHOI? Amid the turmoil of Russia re-inventing
itself, and the bitter cold of St. Petersburg, ballet is thriving.
"The Kirov (known in Russia now as the Mariinsky) is now
widely recognized as Russia's best ballet company, surpassing the
more famous Bolshoi Ballet of Moscow. Its foreign tours have been
commercial and critical triumphs. Its performances have dazzled
the demanding audiences of London and New York."The
Globe and Mail (Toronto) 02/21/01

THE
BOLSHOI BRAND: The Bolshoi is no longer such a revered name.
But a girl's gotta eat - so the company is franchising out its
school, opening a branch of its school in Australia (even though
the announcement seems to have surprised the school's Australian
hosts).The Age (Melbourne) 02/22/01

BRANCH
OFFICE:The
legendary Bolshoi Ballet has opened its first school outside
Russia - in Brazil. "The mayor's office paid for the ballet
to set up the school and also funds scholarships given to a
majority of the school's 165 or so students, who range in age from
7 to 14. Most of the students' families cannot afford the
equivalent of $170 in monthly fees. But five days a week, three
hours a day, they glide and stretch and twirl in the sun-swept
practice rooms, take assiduous notes on the history of ballet and
learn about the 233-year-old Bolshoi's legendary dancers, many of
whose pictures decorate the school's gleaming walls." Newsweek
04/24/00

TWICE
DISPOSSESSED:
A wave of talented Russian composers fled the former Soviet Union
in the early 1990s for new lives in Britain and throughout Europe.
But the thriving composing community they envisioned hasn’t
reestablished itself, and for the most part their work - some of
it very good - goes unplayed and thus unknown. "Shunned by
compatriot conductors, undiscovered by westerners, Russia's emigré
composers are the unheard ghosts at Europe's over-subsidised
feast."The
Telegraph (London) 3/14/01

RUSSIAN
BUILDINGS IN DANGER:
"Russia boasts a staggering
90,000 official architectural landmarks, including churches and
palaces from every era in its history, according to the Culture
Ministry - and many are in danger of extinction. New-York based
World Monuments Watch named seven Russian sites in this year's
list of the world's 100 most endangered landmarks - more than any
other country."CNN.com (AP)
10/12/00

THE
HOUSTON-MOSCOW CONNECTION: The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston,
and the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow announce a
long-term alliance to share and exchange artwork. "The first
exchange will send 200 objects from the MFA's Glassell Collection
of African Gold to the Russian museum in 2001, the first time in
its 100-year history that it will exhibit African art. In December
2002, a trove of French paintings by such masters as Paul Cézanne
and Pablo Picasso will travel to Houston."Houston
Chronicle 10/26/00

VIVA
LAS VEGAS: The Guggenheim and the Hermitage Museums are coming
to Las Vegas. What will their new buildings look like?
"Whether or not they succeed as architecture will go a long
way in answering a question that has secretly terrified the
profession for more than a decade: How does architecture assert
its value in a world saturated by manipulative advertising and
mass-market entertainment?"Los
Angeles Times 10/25/00

CASUALTIES
OF WAR: The art of Chechnya is being destroyed in that
republic's struggle with Russia. “Many of the republic’s
archeological and architectural sites are being destroyed since
they are located at the centre of hostilities. War is war, and art
and archeology are caught in the crossfire.” The
Art Newspaper 06/19/00

CUSTOMS
AGENTS WHO AREN'T ART EXPERTS: The export of art - any art -
out of St. Petersburg, Russia has stopped because customs
officials at the airport there say the value of artwork leaving is
too difficult to determine and therefore too tough to figure the
taxes owed.St.
Petersburg Times (Russia) 07/18/00

RUSSIA'S
FINEST: "The atmosphere has been electrifying"
throughout the Kirov Ballet's recent five-week run at Covent
Garden. "Three times in the 20th century the Russians have
come to teach us a lesson in the lively arts. What has sustained
them through the century is a peculiar blend of collective outlook
and blind conviction." The
Telegraph (London) 07/12/00

THE
QUESTIONABLE TOURIST BALLETS:St. Petersburg is the home of
great ballet, home of famed Russian dance companies.
"Unfortunately, virtually every package tour of St.
Petersburg feels the cultural necessity of including a ballet
performance in its offering - rather as Paris tours once felt
equally compelled to provide the Folies Bergere, or Le Moulin
Rouge and Pigalle. But the tourists' ballets, as I recently
discovered to my cost, are occasionally questionable. New
York Post 07/12/00

Can't make it to St.
Petersburg to see the Hermitage? IBM has spent two years and $2
million putting the museum online in high resolution. Now you can
see 3000 of the museum's artworks with just a few clicks. Hartford
Courant 9/28/99

HERMITAGE
MUSEUM announces plans to open a branch in London. Here's how
the collaboration happened.
London Telegraph 11/1/99

ART
PACT: The
Guggenheim Foundation and St. Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum have
inked a deal to share their collections, collaborate on
exhibitions, and help each other develop a worldwide network of
museums. New
York Times 06/20/00(one-time
registration required for entry)